Loom harness



Oct. 7. 1969 F. H. KAUFMANN ETAL 3479920 LOOM HARNESS Filed Feb 16 1968 INVENZ'ORS FRANK H.KAUFMANN CHARLESF. KRAN/Eli United States Patent O 3,470920 LOOM HARNESS Frank H. Kaufmann, Huntingdon Valley, and Charles F. Kramer, "Philadelphia, Pa., assignors to Steel Heddle Manufacturing Company, Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed Feb. 16, 1968, Set. N0. 705,985 Int; Cl. D03c 9/06 U.S. Cl. 139-91 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Loom harness for weaving loorns in which the upper and lower rails of the hamess frame have supports in surrounding relation thereto interrflediate the ends of the rails for carrying the heddle supporting rods in adjustable relation to the rails, the suppoits also being of a 10W coeflicient of friction material and spacing the rails to protect the rails against abrasion.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention This invention relates to 100m harness and more particularly to harness frames of weaving looms in which the heddle supporting rods are adjustably carried by supports which also protect the rails and prevent rail abrasion.

Description of the prior art lt has heretofore been proposed to provide Supports for the top and bottom heddle mounting rods, at locations intermediate their ends, these supports being of various types including fixed Supports, adjustable supports and resilient supports. In the wooden rails previously employed there was usually suflicient thicknessof the rail to permit openings for bolts and the like.

With metallic rails forrned as extrusions or as hollow tubes the Walls are in sotne instances too thin to permit of penetratingthe rail without unduly weakening it. Attempts to attach to such rails by welding or by the use of welded attachrnentshave not proven wholly satisfactory.

It has also been proposed as in the U.S. patent to John J. Kaufmann,'No. 3251383 to provide so called nose guides extending beyond the rails to aid in the separation of the harness frames during shedding, this being particularly advantageous With metallic rails.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is the principal object of the present invention 10 provide an improved adjustable support for the heddle supporting rods of loom harness used in weaving at locations intermediate the ends of the upper and lower rails f the loom harness frame and which is particularly suitable for thin tubular metallic rails.

lt is a further object of the present invention to provide a heddle rod support which is disposed in encircling relation to the rail and which is formed of a material which reduces the tendency of the harness frames and of the rails to abrade in shedding.

lt is a further object of the preesnt invention to provide a heddle rod support which is light in weight, free frorn any tendency to make available directly or by its contact With other rnoving parts, any residue or the like which might soil the fabric.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a heddle rod support which permits of free movement of the heddles from end to end on the heddle rods.

Other objects and advantageous features of the invention will be apparent from the description and claims.

3,470,920 Patented Oct. 7., 1969 ice The nature and characteristic features of the invention will be more readily understood from the follo'wing description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings forming part thereof, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a front elevational view of a heddle frame embodying the rnain features of the present inver'1tion;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged vertical sectional view, taken approximately on the line 22 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a horizontal sectional view taken approximately on the line 33 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is a horizontal sectional view taken approximately on the line 44 of FIG. 2.

lt should, of course, be understood that the description and drawings herein are illustrative merely, and that various modifications and changes can be made in the structure disclosed without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Like numerals refer to like parts throughout the Several views.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now more particularly to the drawings, a heddle frame 10 is shown of well known construction comprising top and bottom rails 11 and side struts 12 connecting the ends of the rails 11 and maintaining them in spaced parallel relation. The side sfruts 12 can be held in engagement in any desired manner, and as is well known in the art.

The rails 11 are advantageously made of thin steel tubing, or of light Weight metal alloys, such as those of aluminurn or magnesium, with opposite parallel vertical side faces 14 and opposite outer and inner horizontal faces 15 and 16.

The heddle frame 10 is shown as having mounted there in upper and lower heddle supporting rods 17 extending into openings 18 in the side struts 12, and held in place by conventional spring clips 19 engaging in T-shaped i apertures 20 in the rods 17. The heddle supporting rods employed and has been included to aid in understanding the invention.

In accordance with the invention, and in one preferred embodirnent, the heddle rod support 25 includes a block or body portion which may be made of a plurality of Wall sections 26 and 27 connected at the inner portions and separable at their outer ends for access and ass'embly. The Wall sections 26 and 27 are held together in any desired manner at their outer portions, such as by fast ners 28 with interposed spacers 34. The fasteners 28 can be rivets, if permanent -attachrnent is desired or snap buttons if separability is to be retained.

The heddle rod support 25 can be made of any suitable material, it being preferred to employ a synthetic plastic materi-al having a 10W coeflicient of friction when in rubbing contact with metal rails. Suitable materials include the plastic available under the trade narne Delrin, and nylon, both of which are tough, resilient, inert and free from any tendency to soil the fabric being woven.

The heddle rod su port 25 has an opcn interior space 29 bounded by inner vertical side faces 30, an inner and face 31, and an outer end face 32. The vertical dimensi0n of the space between the faces 31 and 32 can be varied as desired to provide the desired total height in accordance with the vertical adjustment desired.

The wall sections 26 and 27 are provided with central vertical slots 33 which terminate at their outer ends in the plane of the outer face 32 and at their inner ends inwardly of the inner face 31.

A slide 35 is provided having vertical side Wall portions 36, an inner horizontal wall portion 38 connecting the side wall portions 36 and an outer horizontal Wall portion 39 which enclose and engage the rails 11.

The side wall portions 36 have parallel vertical faces 40 which are positioned by and are slidable along the inner faces cf the slots 33.

The outer wall portions 39 have head portions 42 which are slidable in the space 29 in engagement With the inner side faces 30. The head portions 42 have vertical margins 43 which terminate in alignrnent with vertical margins 44 of the support 25, the margins 43 and 44 being substantially perpendicular to the main plane of the heddle frame 10 and to the rails 11.

The slides 35 also have vertical margins 45 which are aligned with vertical Inargins 46 of the supports 25 and are in planes parallel to the main plane of the heddle frame 10 and outwardly with respect to the vertical side rail faces 14.

The outer edge portions of the support 25 are preferably beveled and rounded as at 47 to facilitate separation of the heddle frames 10.

Bach support 25 inwardly of the interior space 29 has a rib 48 to which the heddle rod 17 is secured, such as by rivets 49, and With spacers 50 to permit free end to end movement of the heddles 21 along the rods 17.

In order to position the support 25 with respect to the slide 35, the head 42 is internally threaded as at 52 for engagement by a threaded shank 53.

The shank 53 has a pair of thrust collars 54 secured thereto and rotatably received in complemental openings 55 in the support sections 26 and 27 The shank 53 has a slotted end 56 which is accessible through an opening 57 in the support 25 for turning with a screw driver (not shown) to move the supports 25 and the heddle rods 17 carried thereby with respect t the rails 11.

The mode of use Will be clear from the foregoing laut it may be particularly noted that the supports 25 in addition to providing adjustable supports for the rails 11 also insure separation of the rails 11 of the harness frames during shedding.

We claim:

1. The combination with a heddle frame having top and bottom rails, heddle supporting rods carried in said frame, and heddles carried on said rods 0f means for adjustably supporting said rods with respect to said rails,

said means including a support member movably disposed in surrounding relation to one of said rails and having a heddle rod secured thereto,

said support member having a rail engaging member carried thereby,

said rail engaging member being fixedly secured to said one of said rails, and

an adjusting element engaging said support member and said rail engaging member for determining the relative vertical positioning of said members.

2. The combination defined in claim 1 in which said support member has side slots within which said rail-engaging member is slidably carried.

3. The combination defined in clairn 1 in which said support member has an interior space, and said rail engaging member has head portions slidably Carried in said interior space.

4. The combination defined in claim 1 in which said means has an integral portion extending outwardly beyond the rails on each side thereof and beyond the outer faees of the rails for separating said rails upon shedding.

5. The combination defined in claim 1 in which said adjusting element has a threaded shank in threaded engagernent With one of said members and rotatably mounted in the other of said members.

6. The combination defined in clairn 5 in which said rail engaging member has an internally threaded portion With which said shank is in threaded engagement.

7. The combination defined in claim 1 in which said rails are cf metal, and

said support member is a material having a 10W coefficient of friction with respect to said rails.

8. The combination defined in clairn 2 in which said rails are of metal,

said support member has an interior space,

said rail engaging member has head portions slidably carried in said interior space,

said support member is of synthetic plastic material having a 10W coefiicient of friction with respect to said rails,

said support member has an integral portion extending outwardly beyond its associated rail on each side of the rail and beyond the outer face of the rail for harness frame separation, and

said adjusting element has a threaded shank in threaded engagement With said rail engaging member and is rotatably carried by said support member.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 961,463 6/1910 Robidoux 139-88 1142290 6/1915 Wagner 139-92 l526159 2/ 1925 Livermore 139-92 3251,383 5/1966 Kaufmann 139-91 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,199 1866 Great Britain.

574,573 3/ 1958 Italy.

344,384 3/ 1960 Switzerland.

430,615 8/ 1967 Switz6rland.

439,166 12/ 1967 Switzerland.

JAMES KEE CHI, Primary Examiner 

